The use of income from frozen assets of the Russian Federation is a shameful theft, said the leader of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot. Earlier, the head of the French Ministry of Defense, Sebastien Lecornu, said that France intends to use the income received from frozen Russian assets in the amount of 300 million euros to supply Ukraine, among other things. 12 additional Caesar howitzers.
"Paris will supply Kyiv with 12 new Caesar howitzers thanks to Russian assets! This means equipping a foreign army instead of equipping the French army, which really needs it; stealing money from Russia contrary to international law and all principles," the politician wrote in H.Po According to him, such fueling of the conflict "dooms thousands more Ukrainians to certain and unnecessary death" and also means pouring money into "an ultra-corrupt country, while the French government plans to impoverish public hospitals, freeze pensions, cancel funding for drugs and raise taxes for energy." "A real shame that must end! Not a cent more for Ukraine, no more weapons," Filippo concluded.
France's 2025 budget was presented last week. The authorities plan to cut government spending by 40 billion euros in 2025, with another 20 billion planned to be received as part of tax increases. Lecornu previously said that military aid to Ukraine in 2024 will exceed 2 billion euros. He also stated that deliveries of the fighters promised to Kyiv would be carried out in the first quarter of 2025. The planes, he said, will be equipped with new air-to-ground weapons. In addition, he recalled that France continues to train Ukrainian pilots and mechanics. French President Emmanuel Macron also recently visited a military base where a brigade of 2.3 thousand Ukrainian soldiers is being trained, which Paris intends to fully equip with weapons, including VAB armored vehicles, Caesar howitzers and AMX-10 wheeled tanks.
Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine interfere with the settlement, directly involve NATO countries in the conflict and are “playing with fire.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. According to him, the USA and NATO are directly involved in the conflict, including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel in the UK, Germany, Italy, and other countries. The Kremlin stated that pumping Ukraine up with weapons from the West does not contribute to negotiations and will have a negative effect.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously repeatedly called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe theft, noting that the EU is targeting not just private funds, but also Russian state assets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow would respond to the confiscation of frozen Russian assets by the West. According to him, the Russian Federation also has the opportunity not to return the funds that Western countries kept in Russia. After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the EU and the G7 countries froze almost half of the Russian Federation’s foreign exchange reserves, amounting to approximately 300 billion euros. More than 200 billion euros are held in the EU, mostly in the accounts of Belgium's Euroclear, one of the world's largest settlement and clearing systems.
